Hypocorism

Quick meaning: Hypocorism is a noun meaning (countable) A term of endearment, often a diminutive; a pet name.

Meaning

(countable) A term of endearment, often a diminutive; a pet name.

More Meanings

1. (uncountable) The formation of terms of endearment or pet names.
2. (uncountable, rare) Baby talk, such as bow-wow for dog and choo-choo for train.

Example Sentences

For the flattering hypocorisms of lovers and parents see Plut. de Leg. Poet. p. 44; [...]

St Peter's cult, which dates from the earliest period in Brittany, is represented in the toponymy only in the radical form of his name, without hypocorism or mutation.

An acronym that never seems to have had capital letters comes from "young urban professional", plus the -ie suffix, as in hypocorism, to produce the word yuppie (first recorded in 1984).

The addition of diminutive or familiar prefixes and suffixes to the name of a saint to produce a 'pet name' or hypocorism, is common in the Celtic areas and would at times seem to produce extra saints from doublets of existing names.

Word Forms

• hypocorisms
• hypocorisma

Synonyms for hypocorism

Depending on context, synonyms include hypocoristic, nickname, sobriquet.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include hypocrism, hypochorism, honeycomb, hypo, haplogy, honeypie.

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